Death toll from Marburg outbreak tops 250

The death toll in Angola's Marburg epidemic has topped 250, but medical experts said on Thursday they were confident the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus would soon be reined in.

Some 253 people have died of the rare Ebola-like disease from a total of 273 known cases since late last year, according to a document released late on Wednesday by the Health Ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

All the cases in this outbreak have originated from the northern Uige province, where Angolan authorities, the WHO and non-governmental organisations are trying to trace more than 500 people who are thought to have had contact with the victims.

Some 48 per cent of known cases have been among children.

Marburg is a rare haemorrhagic fever which is transmitted through bodily fluids including sweat, saliva and tears.

Most people usually die within days after massive bleeding.

The previous record death toll from a Marburg outbreak was 123 people who were killed in an epidemic in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998-2000.

Medical experts said they believed that official efforts to educate people about the virus and how to prevent transmission were helping to turn the tide against the disease.

"It's beginning now to come under control. Once people get the message about how to prevent this, then that should begin to take effect and I think there's some suggestion that's beginning to happen," Tom Ksiazek of the US Centres for Disease Control told Reuters.

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